CONNECTIONS

COLLABORATION: Selinde Lanier + Lisa Mandle

THE STORY UNFOLDS...In late July of 2012 my friend and colleague Selinde and I decided to collaborate. Click on the galleries below for details on the slow craft process and see the results of our two month window for fabric design & production, pattern design, cut and sew. Pure fiber joy.

Selinde's larger more automatic loom was occupied with her coverlet work, so we designed a fabric width that would both be comfortable for her body width to weave lots of yardage, while also serving the optimal width for my pattern pieces and designs...we settled on 18". Thus Selinde set about weaving 25 years of her fabric for me to cut and sew. Though I had the first piece within the first 3 weeks, I waited to have all the goods in hand before my final designing and cutting, leaving 10 days. It was like mountain getaway project runway in my studio leading up to the delivery date.

Creating so much work in a small window of time is exciting. In the end, I created an up-cycled sweater, two jackets, a skirt, pantaloons, a hood/shawl, a flow top (swing cut pullover with hood/turtleneck) and pulled a slip from my current collection to complete my ensembles. We had the opportunity to present two ensembles. Now back in the studio, I have had the opportunity to photograph each piece.

The outfits as they appeared on the runway are at the end of this next gallery. The individual pieces seemed to lend themselves easily to interpretation and multiple combinations.

Reach me if you are interested in finding out more about this custom made to order clothing premiered October 25th 2012 at the Asheville Art Museum, for the Project Handmade Fashion Show.

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Thanks for visiting this page, and ever so grateful for the opportunity to be so changed by an experience and a collaboration. Thank you Selinde for working with me on this wonderful project.